Iran blames the West for stalled nuclear talks

Iran’s foreign minister blamed the West on Tuesday for unsuccessful nuclear talks in Geneva over the weekend. 

In response to Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Javad Zarif said blaming Iran would only undermine confidence in the talks, according to Reuters.

“Mr. secretary, was it Iran that gutted over half of U.S. draft Thursday night? And publicly commented against it Friday morning?” Zarif tweeted. 

“No amount of spinning can change what happened within P5+1 in Geneva from 6 P.M. Thursday to 5:45 P.M. Saturday. But it can further erode confidence,” he continued on Twitter. “We are committed to constructive engagement. Interaction on equal footing key to achieve shared objectives.”

{mosads}Zarif denied Kerry’s claim that it was Iran that walked away from the deal. Initial rumors suggested France was the country disputing it, but Kerry disputed that on Monday.  

“[We were] unified on Saturday when we presented a proposal to the Iranians, and the French signed off on it, we signed off on it, and everybody agreed it was a fair proposal. There was unity, but Iran couldn’t take it at that particular moment, they weren’t able to accept that particular thing,” Kerry said.

Iran reportedly rejected the deal because it excluded language that would give Iran the green light to enrich.

The next round of the P5+1 negotiations are slated to reconvene Nov. 20.